FOR GENERAL READERS. 



Vol. I.] 



September, 1887. 



[No. 7. 



Current Events 145 



General Notes 148 



Domestic Sanitation. — No. 5 152 



A Jubilee Retrospect 153 



Vortex Rings {///its.) 154 



The Tintometer (///its.) 155 



The Telephone : Its Principles, Con- 

 struction, etc. — II. (i//us.) .... 155 

 Spontaneous Combustion 15S 



CONTENTS. 



Zoological Notes at the American 



Exhibition (///its. ) 161 



Photography by iVIoonlight (i//tis.) . . i6j 



Evening Technical Instruction in 



England. — II 162 



Coloured Glass in the United States 164 



Proceedings of Societies. 

 The Royal Institution : — 



" The Element of Truth in Popu- 

 lar Beliefs " 164 



PAGE 



" Etiology of Scarlet Fever " . . 164 

 The Physical Society of Berlin ; — 



Papers read 165 



The Geological Society ; — 



Papers read 166 



Reviews of Books 166 



Books Received 167 



Scientific Meetings and Exhibitions 167 



Apphcations for Patents 16S 



CURRENT EVENTS. 



The Jubilee of the Electric Telegraph. — We assume 

 that our readers are already aware that the gathering of 

 scientific and representative men, which took place to com- 

 memorate the fiftieth anniversary of the successful establish- 

 ment of the first electric telegraph line, was well worthy of 

 the occasion. Sir Lyon Playfair very truly said that what 

 telegraphy has done for the world is incalculable, not only 

 in adding largely to the resources of government, but in 

 having profoundly changed the whole practice of commerce 

 all over the world. Without it the present enormous rail- 

 way traffic in all civilised countries could not be carried on, 

 and there would be infinitely greater risk of accidents. 

 Buyers and consumers who are separated by immense dis- 

 tances are now brought into rapid communication, and as 

 both are also made acquainted with the ruling prices in the 

 principal markets of various countries, there is much less 

 opportunity for unhealthy speculation. Many other in- 

 stances could be given, but speaking generally, the whole 

 system of commerce and of government has been altered by 

 telegraphy. 



This rapid and successful development is doubtless due 

 to the fact that science and art worked together for a 

 common end. Abstract science alone could not have brought 

 it to a successful issue, nor could the engineer have suc- 

 ceeded without the guidance of science. Professor Stokes 

 remarked that all honour be to those who are so immersed 

 in abstract science that they disregard and even dislike its 

 application, but that he preferred to see science connected 

 with applications thereof, no matter to what purpose ; and 

 that, as is well known. Sir William Thomson had tastes 

 similar to his own in that respect. He added that when we 

 apply abstract science to physical subjects, we are enabled 



to investigate natural phenomena in a manner which could 

 not otherwise be done. But this is not all. When science 

 comes to be applied to the wants of life, scientific men are 

 placed by the practical man in the condition of making ex- 

 periments which oftentimes would otherwise be impossible. 

 When science comes to be applied to commercial purposes, 

 it then becomes possible to construct instruments on a scale 

 the cost of which would be utterly prohibitory to the purely 

 scientific man. But when these instruments are constructed, 

 it may be, for commercial purposes, the scientific man on 

 his part is able to make experiments with them which often 

 are of great interest from a purely scientific point of view. 



Decimal Coinage. — We sincerely trust that the decimal 

 system will be adopted in this country for weights and 

 measures, but we fear that we are not yet within measura- 

 ble distance of so desirable a consummation. If, however, 

 a decimal coinage is legalised, it will doubtless lead the way 

 to the larger and more important reform : we are therefore 

 watching with interest what is being done in this direction 

 by Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P., and those associated with 

 him. In June last he headed a deputation to the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer, and was able to report that the Chambers 

 of Commerce were unanimously in favour of its adoption. 

 Among other things he stated that at the present time 

 merchants usually calculate in decimals, reducing the pounds, 

 shillings, and pence into decimals, then calculating in deci- 

 mals, and afterwards reconverting the decimals into pounds, 

 shillings, and pence. This cumbersome method was said to 

 be more expeditious than direct calculations in pounds, 

 shillings, and pence ; and we ask, could anything be more 

 absurd ? Another speaker (the delegate of the British 

 Chamber of Commerce in Paris) remarked that manufac- 

 turers in this country had done a great deal to bring the 



